Wednesday, June 13, 2012

As promised, here is a reading list of recommended chapter books geared for the boys! These books will have at least one boy main character so that the readers are not "forced" to read stories with all of these girls characters. The books on this list look are either adventure, humor, ghost story, newer titles and classic titles. Enjoy!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Parents of young beginning readers ask for ideas about reading comprehension. Generally, once the child is in school their teacher/school has their own method; however, a lot of parents become quite active as well, especially during the summer when their child is out of school. I shared these questions below with a parent earlier today to help her soon-to-be 1st Grader.

For readers who are in Kindergarten and Beyond, here are some recommended questions to ask:

Who was the author and illustrator of the book?

Who were the main characters in the story?

Who was your favorite character and why?

How did the story start?

What happened in the middle of the story?

What happened at the end of the story?

What was the main feeling in the story (e.g. was it happy or sad) and why was this so?

Where was the story set?

How did the story make you feel and why?

Did you learn any new words from this story? If so, what?

What does the picture on the cover tell you about the story?

Is the story fiction (pretend) or nonfiction (real)?

Did you like/not like the story? Why?

Did you learn any lessons from the story?

What was the story about?

For Toddlers, you can ask beginning concept questions like:

Were there food in the story? If so, what type?

Were there animals in the story? If so, what type?

What colors did you see in the pictures?

What shapes did you see in the pictures?

You can ask these questions orally or, for the older readers, you can create a worksheet. Also, in case you are wondering, yes, you may want to be familiar with the book that you are going to ask your child about.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

It's summer and it's time to share new reads with the kids who are off from school. The following list are books that I have recommended to young girl readers who are approximately 3 grade and up (and don't worry, a boy's is coming soon!). We have humor, mysteries, ghost stories, adventures, newer titles and classic titles! Hopefully there is at least one that peaks a reader's interest.

MORE RECENT TITLES

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle written by Avi

The Chasing Vermeer trilogy written by Blue Balliet

The Penderwicks trilogy written by Jeanne Bridsall

Shakespeare's Secret written by Elise Broach

The Sisters Grimm series written by Michael Buckley and illus. by Peter Ferguson

Molly Moon series written by Georgia Byng

The Tale of Despereaux written by Kate DiCamillo and illus. by Timothy Basil Ering

Coraline written by Neal Gaiman

Running Out of Time written by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The Old Willis Place written by Mary Downing Hahn

Just Grace series written and illus. by Charise Maricle Harper

The Tail of Emily Windsnap written by Liz Kessler

Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo series written by Nancy Krulik and illus. by John and Wendy

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

This is the first storytime of the summer season! To start it all off I chose the It's a Mystery theme because for the state of Texas' Summer Reading Program theme is "Get a Clue... At the Library". It was a lot of fun to do and the children loved it!

T = Toddler Storytime
P = Preschool Storytime

BOOKS

The Adventure of Max and Pinky: The Mystery written and illus. by Maxwell Eaton III. (T)The children helped me say what color the barn had been painted. Whose Nose Is This? written by Peg Hall and Ken Landmark (T) The toddlers and their older siblings really liked doing this book because they had to guess what animal each nose belonged to. I do which that book showed more of each animal as a whole, be nonetheless it was a lot of fun to hear their guesses!Louella Mae, She's Run Away! written by Karen Beaumont Alarcon and illus. by Rosanne Litzinger (P) The children mostly listened this one, but they did like the surprise ending when we all discover who Louella Mae and why she ran away.Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar? written by Bonnie Lass and Philemon Sturges and illus. by Ashley Wolff (P)The children loved this book and had a lot of fun responding to each accusation. Some even said that they would want to share the cookies with the ants because ants have germs!

SONGS & RHYMES

Open, Shut Them (T, P)follow actions
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap
Creep them, creep them up to your chin
Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a big clap
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap.

Where is Thumbkin? (T, P)
Where is thumbkin?
Where is thumbkin?
Here I am.
Here I am.
How are you today, sir?
Very well, I thank you.
Run and play.
Run and play.Continue with:
Pointer, Middle Finger, Ring Finger, and Pinky Whose House Is This? (T)
Does a frog live in a tree?
Does a frog live a nest?
Does a frog live on a lily pad?Continue with other animals and where they live.
Source: Storytime Source Page

Whose House is This? (T)
I was inspired by Lisa and her blog post for I Spy Mystery/Guessing Game Storytime on her blog Storytime Source Page. I modified the words to the activity today because of how active the toddlers were. They were itching to go and put the animals on the board. I made two animal per home: whale and start fish for the ocean (my favorite ones!), bird and squirrel for a tree, duck and frog for the pond, and a cow and sheet for the barn. The toddlers had a lot of fun with this.

Whose Shadow Am I? (P)
Katie over at Story Time Secrets posted this shadow guessing game activity. I morphed this to match the Where Do I Live? flannel board by just making black silhouettes of each animal. I placed the shadows on my flannel board and asked the preschool children what each shadow looked like. For the most part they got each one right. They loved it!

ACTIVITIES

Egg Shakers (T)
Everyone loved it, as usual!

CRAFTS

Where Do I Live? activity sheet (T)
To continue our activity of know where things live, the toddlers got to glue and color an activity sheet. I created the page by adding clip art of a house, pond, and a barn. Then created cut outs of a child, duck, and cow. The children had to glue the animals and child next to the place where they live.

Foam Detective Magnifying Glasses (P)
To help the children really get into the pretending to be detectives, we all made pretend magnifying glasses. Using a template I found via Mailbox, I cut out the body out of fun foam. For the "glass" I used leftover laminate (after I had laminated some posters). If you do have laminate, you can use cling film. The children got to glue the laminate circle to the back of magnify glass.

PICTURES

Whose House is This? flannel board, Toddler Storytime
created by Dorothy, WP-CC 2012

Who Uses This? written by Margaret Miller. (T)Whose Shoes? written by Margaret Miller. (T)The Missing Chick written and illus. by Valeri Gorbachev (P, SA)Moose Tracks written by Karma Wilson and Illus. by Jack E. Davis (P, SA)

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Continuing her work in present American Sign Language (beyond her founding of New York Baby Fingers program) Lora Heller has written a new ABC sign language book. Each page presents the traditional alphabet letter then a inset circle illustration of the ASL sign for that letter. The illustrations to relate the letters to an object or thing are sometimes expected (such as B is for Bird and X for Xylophone); however, the rest are refreshing additions to an alphabet (like M is for Mermaid, R is for Robot and Y is for Yo-yo). The illustrations are crisp, simple, and colorful, which is greatly needed when presenting in presenting ABCs. Hip and mod comes to mind. The book begins with an introduction for the parent to share with a hearing/speaking child who can practice and learn the skill of sign language and can even share with friends to be speak in a fun new way. At the end of the book is a quick guide to all the letter signs. Not only is this book great for an introduction for the hearing/speaking children but also to the children who truly need to learn ASL for communication. A must needed refreshing addition to ASL ABC collections.

EXTENSIONS

Have the children practice doing the ASL signs.

Have the children come up with other letter representations ( such as E is for egg plant) to add to the collection of examples.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Every child (and their parent) should be super excited when they graduate from Beginning Reader books to the real thing - Chapter Books. However, sometimes it's hard to find stories that will capture the attention and imagination of these young readers. Here are some books that I have recommended to new-to-chapter-books readers:

Cam Jansen series written by David A. Adler and illus. by Joy Allen

Ivy and Bean series written Anne Barrows and illus. by Sophie Blackall

Junie B. Jones series written by Barbara Park and illus. by Denise Brunkus

Clementineseries written by Sara Pennypacker and illus. by Marla Frazee

The Magic Tree House series written by Mary Pope Osborne and illus. by Sal Murdocca

The Jigsaw Jones Mystery series written by James Preller and illus. by John Speirs

The A to Z Mysteries written by Ron Roy and illus. by John Steven Gurney

Calvin Coconutseries written by Graham Salisbury and illus. by Jacqueline Rogers

The Time Warp Trio written by Jon Scieszka and illus. by Lane Smith

Hank Zipzerseries written by Henry Wrinkler and Lin Oliver and illus. by Jesse Joshua Watson

Disney Princess series written by various authors and illus. by various artists

The American Girlsseries by various authors and illus. by various artists

Disney Fairies series written by various authors and illus. by various artists

The Rainbow Magic series written by by Daisy Meadows (there are 21 different fairy types!) and illus. Georgie Ribber

All these, with the exception of Jane O'Connor's new Nancy book, are book series. Some are books that could be read alone with confident readers while others may require more parent/child reading together time. Either way, if a child loves the first book there are more with the same characters to carry on the new chapter book exploration.

About Me

Salutations! I am the owner of The Wielded Pen. Educated in English and Children's Literature, I am an avid reader, an aspiring writer and artist, lover of travel, and, all-in-all, a Super Children's Librarian.